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Recent surveys show that wide ($>10^4$ AU) binaries and triples are abundantin the field. We study the long-term evolution of wide hierarchical triplesystems and the role played by the Galactic tidal (GT) field. We find that whenthe timescales of the secular von-Ziepel-Lidov-Kozai and the GT oscillationsare comparable, triple evolution becomes chaotic which leads to extremeeccentricities. Consequently, the close pericentre approaches of theinner-binary components lead to strong interactions, mergers and collisions. Weuse a novel secular evolution code to quantify the key parameters and carry outa population-synthesis study of low and intermediate-mass wide-orbit triples.We find that in $\sim9\%$ of low-mass wide-triples the inner main-sequencebinaries collide or tidally-inspiral within $10\ \rm Gyr$, with directcollisions are $6$ times more likely to occur. For the intermediate-masssample, $\sim7.6\%$ of the systems merge or inspiral with roughly equalprobabilities. We discuss the relative fractions of different stellarmerger/inspiral outcomes as a function of their evolutionary stage(Main-Sequence, MS; Red-Giant, RG; or White-Dwarf, WD), their transientelectromagnetic signatures and the final products of the merger/inspiral. Inparticular, the rate of WD-WD direct-collisions that lead to type-Ia Supernovaeis comparable to other dynamical channels and accounts for at most $0.1\%$ ofthe observed rate. RG inspirals provide a novel channel for the formation ofeccentric common-envelope-evolution binaries. The catalysis ofmergers/collisions in triples due to GT could explain a significant fraction,or even the vast majority, of blue-stragglers in the field, produce progenitorsfor cataclysmic-variables, and give-rise to mergers/collisions of double-RGbinaries.

Chaotic dynamics of wide triples induced by galactic tides: a novel channel for producing compact binaries, mergers, and collisions